Former Democratic treasury secretary Larry Summers is “deeply ashamed” of his years-long communication with Jeffrey Epstein and will be “stepping back from public commitments,” he said in a statement Monday night.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,” Summers said. “I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein. While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.”
The House Oversight Committee released a new trove of documents Wednesday highlighting Epstein’s extensive ties to world leaders, politicians and other close confidants. Much focus went to Epstein’s talk of President Donald Trump. But the messages also ensnared a broader web of powerful friends, Summers among them.
Still, it was unclear whether Summers would exit a wide array of boards and think tanks — including those that pay him — or if those organizations would cut ties with him. A former president of Harvard University, Summers still holds a professorship there.
Summers was set to have a leading role in the rollout of a set of economic proposals from the left-leaning think tank the Center for American Progress. But the formal launch of that working group was put on hold as Summers continued to draw scrutiny. In a statement Monday, a CAP spokesperson said Summers was no longer a fellow at the think tank.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), an emerita professor at Harvard, told CNN on Monday that the university should sever ties with Summers.
Summers holds affiliations with a number of prominent liberal economic policy groups. He remains a member of the Hamilton Project Advisory Council at the Brookings Institution, a spokesperson said Monday.
He is also the board chair of the Center for Global Development, vice chairman of the board of directors at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a member of the advisory board of the Yale University Budget Lab. Representatives from those groups did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Summers has previously said he regrets his association with Epstein, including when Summers asked Epstein for advice on getting $1 million to fund one of his wife’s projects, the Wall Street Journal reported. But the newly released batch of documents revealed more about the closeness of their relationship.
The messages show that over years, Epstein and Summers corresponded about Summers’s romantic interests and other issues. At one point, they talk through Summers’s attempt to attract a woman. Epstein coached him through how to handle the situation.
Summers has had significant influence over economic policymaking for decades. He ran the National Economic Council during the Obama administration, was a contender to lead the Federal Reserve and was treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton. He was president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006 but resigned, in part because of an uproar over comments he made suggesting “intrinsic aptitude” might be part of why women are underrepresented in top science and engineering fields.
More recently, Summers had ready access to President Joe Biden as the economy recovered from the pandemic. Summers and Biden were often at odds, with Summers routinely criticizing the Biden’s administration sprawling stimulus package for exacerbating inflation and arguing that millions of job losses would probably be necessary to get prices under control. But his influence didn’t waver, even as many of his predictions turned out to be wrong.
Maegan Vazquez contributed to this report.
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